


Tread Water

by ofvanity



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Codependency, M/M, Non-Graphic Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-17
Updated: 2012-01-17
Packaged: 2017-11-06 06:33:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/415844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ofvanity/pseuds/ofvanity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Don't talk, Arthur. Silence, Arthur, you have to be quiet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tread Water

Arthur comes home from Dubai with his throat slit.   
  
There is a long, thin gash spread out across his neck and it's closed now, pale pink and shiny with anti-scarring lotion but once Cobb sees it, he can't think of anything else. He's seen Arthur's blood, spilled it himself a few times and now Arthur is standing here, in his doorway, smiling in a way that belies his eyes.   
  
"What the hell happened," Cobb says, trying to remain calm.   
  
Arthur frowns, "Nothing, I took care of it." His hand flies self-consciously to his scar, right above the collar of his button up.   
  
That’s all he says. He’ll sit next to Cobb at the dinner table and cough differently when he chokes on food. Arthur will drink water much more often and he’s never unarmed anymore. Mal sends Cobb weary glances but all Arthur says is, “I took care of it.”   
  
Three days after Arthur comes home, Cobb is on the phone with Miles and it comes up that three buildings in Dubai were bombed last week. Three buildings full of people with track marks and everyone believes they were crack dens. Crack heads die and no one is jumping over hoops to solve their murder. 26 people dead. 3 injured.   
  
Arthur says, “I took care of it,” until he doesn’t.   
  
Weeks pass before Dom wakes up with Arthur sitting at his feet. He fell asleep in the living room and the television lights up the room with an infomercial for a sexually suggestive exercise product. Arthur’s hands are steepled and shaking and he says. “The job you sent me on. It was--I don’t know, harder than I anticipated. Or the security did an emergency sweep, I don’t know,” he swallows thickly and Cobb watches the bob of his throat. “I was kicked out of the dream by the kid keeping time, but it was too late. We were ambushed and the kid--he’s dead but they just slit my throat and dumped me on the side of the road.”   
  
“Arthur--” Cobb sits up to reach out for him, but Arthur pulls away.   
  
“No, I’m fine. I took care of it. I took care of them. The information was extracted, the mark was destroyed,” Arthur’s back straightens and he stands, jaw tight and hands stable, “I just wanted you to know so you would quit worrying. Quit giving Mal sideways glances. Quit crawling into my bed afraid to touch me.”   
  
“Arthur--”   
  
“Quit pretending you don’t have another job for me.”   
  
“That is not happening--you were seriously hurt.”   
  
“I have been before. I will be again. Cobb, you can play suburbia with Mal but I’m not wired that way. Give me an assignment. I’m ready to fly.”   
  
-   
  
Arthur goes to Prague. Cobb goes with him. Cobb stays with him.   
  
Arthur's mouth is creased, a pink bow tied tight around his mouth, his words, and Cobb bends it and creases it, folded back inside his voice, inside his mouth and warm red blood cells, ever since Arthur was a child, curled hair behind his ears and smooth palms behind his back.  _Don't talk_ , _Arthur_ .  _Silence, Arthur, you have to be quiet._   
  
Cobb sends Arthur on missions and Arthur can take it. He flies to Sarajevo, Minsk, Prague, Boston, all the places where powerful people hang their hats and sleep. Sleep and dream. Dream and don't notice when Arthur reaches inside their bows, their creased mouths and takes all their secrets.   
  
It doesn't mean anything to Arthur, the secrets are useless unless you're buying a condo. Arthur will steal biological weapons for a condo in New York. He'll steal military defense plans for Armani suits. But Cobb is different. He'll steal children for Cobb. He'll come home from strange places with his throat slit for Cobb.   
  
Arthur isn't a man. Arthur isn't a woman. Arthur is an entity. His mouth is creased and folded and he doesn't talk.   
Arthur is tied up tight, nothing can touch his rigid edges, he is impenetrable, he’s got the scars to prove no one can get in, and if Cobb asks, he'll slice mouths so far open into Glasgow smiles and spill everything inside. Inside his own mouth, his body and warm red blood cells, Arthur carries a message.   
  
A message Cobb didn’t realize he was branding when he traced the muscles of Arthur’s bare chest. A message for the secret keepers to covet jealously after their mouths have been emptied. A message for other harbingers, rushing through airport security to reach Arthur and Cobb before their plane takes off. A message for quick draw gunslingers, beating children for pleasure, and using anything to their advantage. Should anyone untie Arthur, unravel his mouth and his suit, and open his creases, they will see the message.   
  
Cobb keeps him nice and creased, folded away and clean white paper, sailing, but people are stupid and curious and they want to see what Arthur has inside. Should anyone tug the bow, undo the creases they'll see it. They'll see Arthur and his message. Arthur’s mouth is a bow, pink and tight around his jaw. Arthur carries a message Cobb has unintentionally written.   
  
They’ll come for Arthur again. They'll have to go through Cobb first.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for [this](http://inception-kink.livejournal.com/20092.html?thread=49141372#t49141372) prompt on IKM, but it bothered me and so I went back to the drawing board.


End file.
